Ask for Irish Gaelic translations on this English to Irish, Irish to English translator forum.Irish language translations given on this voluntary community site cannot be guaranteed to be correct. Always ask for a second or third opinion, especially for requests for tattoos, wedding rings, etc.

Just to add, it's also what's used to describe "red" in regards to animals...for example, a chestnut horse, a red fox or an Irish setter.

I sometimes describe it to my students as "ginger" or "copper-colored."

"Dearg" would be used to describe something that's more paint-box red...a red car, for example.

Redwolf (Faolchú Rua )

January 11 2011, 17:30 PM

scoobytyson

Craiceáilte

Posts: 6550

The problem is with the English language really. Santa's red outfit and his red hair (in his youth!) are not the same colour, obviously. While you could argue that there are many shades of the same colour, red hair is quite different to our normal idea of red, since that hair colour is often a shade of orangy/brown or ginger. It's a fairly distinctive colour and is given it's own name in Irish - 'rua'. So yes, rua means 'red' but only because English lacks a specific word for that hair colour (or because 'red' has come to mean two quite separate colours - and 'ginger' or the likes is not in favour).

The money-grabbing wankers who control this site can ban me too. Talk about recruiting trolls! I've spent enough time putting money in their pockets.